There are two people that I need to be considered about customers that will come in the retailer's. I have to find value for both of them. Okay, when they're happy, I'm happy. So when I installed such a system like this first point that I get in touch is my customers, the customers satisfied, They have a good experience. They go back and they come again, which makes me happy. The retailers, on the other hand, should be able to use this data you use. Make happy off these people who are coming and they have to have relevant data to take action. Hi. Welcome back to the voice and demand retail podcast by the Middle East Council of Shopping Centers and Retailers. Today is another exciting episode featuring exclusive in science from an expert in the field of retail technology with Albert Korea, the business operations manager at Nikko on Indoor Navigation and Proximity Marketing

Company. In the last couple of months, I was traveling both locally and abroad and so I saw a couple of shopping centers in different countries. And from this experience I learned something really, really special. Back then, I had limited time. I had scheduled flights and I need to catch and considered traffic. There was this one time. I was just looking for a cup of coffee and buy a few stuff, and I had a bit of difficulty in searching for all of this. It's then I realized, what could have helped me. Albert, thank you for being here today. How can technology as this people like me and make our lives way easier? Definitely. Definitely. Justin is, as you have faced the situation, I think many of us have done it. So basically, you step into a more you want to get, you know, grab a cup of coffee and then go out. Pick some things. Okay? How How easy can this be

? This when it said it's as easy as it goes. But then when you're at the place, it at the mall, it gets as complicated as it gets When we encountered this. So initially when we were coming up with the solutions for you know, in those places, how navigation can be leveraged to different industries. We had this idea. Okay. How How can this be leveraged in the retail space? Because I encountered this every day my colleague encounters it everyday people around me has this problem on. Do you know if there could be something as simple as a Google Maps for indoors the base map for Windows? That's when we got this idea of having this, you know, a, you know, a navigation platform for the windows from also, I just opened the store I get from where I'm standing right now. So I get a rude plotted from source to destination. I could just simply follow that. And if I listen, if I If I, you know, want to see where exactly am I related to it? Then we bring in our module called a

real time navigation for it so we can relate to it. It just doesn't stop there. It just doesn't stop there. So when when we thought about having retail navigation done, we thought about what else could be a what value could be give to the customer first and then retail. We'll talk about that, but but let's talk about customers first. As I'm walking, there's a lot of interaction that I'm having with stores. I'm checking out, you know, stores. I have been no shopping. Do I actually know if there is an offer that's, you know running there, or is there something that is relevant to me? How do I get this information? So that's when we brought in the picture approximately marketing and location data. But and then it interacts with the customers and one that in this location process, and that's that's a great value addition to the customer experience. That's how we're looking at it. So just as you mentioned, eliminating this confusion off navigation from one place with other that's highly important. On top of that, we also see it's important to give amazing

experience when they're at the physical space of retail in the shopping complexes or morals and retail stores. So it's costume Izabal to the customers to the retail stores to do everything. Basically, yes, let's, let's let's put it this way. We have, ah, three versions of it or three versions, or rather, I call it mapping and navigation lies at the core of it. Yeah, and there's a layer that comes on top of it where we put in our real time navigation system, okay, and on top of that, we build customer analytics and data, which the retail stores can use to get in touch with the customer, know what their preferences are. You know the survey to them. So for little, essentially, we have this three less, and it's all modular. If you wanna pick up just opinion navigation, we can go with that. On top of that, you want to give an enhanced expedience your customers that is easily done. That's great. It's like you're localizing and identifying categories for these customers to help the retail stores and the moral itself

. Absolutely wonderful. You know, many have realized the importance of this technology. Why do you think some still haven't installed in their mom thinking about it last weekend? If that mall had this kind of technology, it would make my life so easy. Why do you think they still haven't done this? Well, I I think of it is this way. It's still in new technologies, even though researchers have been going and you know that has been activities since 14 4013. People are still skeptical of adopting to this clearly because they haven't found an expert who has been doing this. They're not confident enough to adopt a new technology with someone who's new to it. But, you know, with that company like us who's being pioneering in this, you know, feel We've been actively involved in mapping and technology for the past four years. Straight on. Also, our collective experience in this domain is around 16 years. We even have, you know, technical team that being project head for Apple Maps. So that

is when we bring it to the domain. I think people shouldn't shouldn't have any sort of skepticism to that. And then they could right away go over the technology right now when I talk about, you know, mapping technology when I talk about skepticism and all that Okay, way had this instance where we had to implement this we still more. We were extensively talking this with the technology team there on. We were talking about how our technology is being implemented. Beacons of being put there. They were all approved. We also had this app built over on Finally, when the implement part came in, we were installing beacons on. Then they came to asking water these beacons for Doesn't this simply work straightaway? Isn't this you know, as simple as the Google maps which work out there, so they they're quite new to this. Okay, so I felt it really funny because we were talking with the technical team. We were going full throttle

and they were expecting us, you know, to have the Google maps, like experience within Windows without any technology being called that. So we thought looking, This is somewhere we really have to put our focus in and contribute more. How else do you think proximity, marketing and navigation helps malls and retailers? Will it be also able to help in, like this? Times of common situation covered 19 pandemic? Definitely, definitely. When we talk about leveraging location technology to have to speak about the current panda things, we all know one of the sectors that has been hit hard is the reading. It's not any other else. So, you know, there has been less food for People aren't coming toe his retail spaces. They are really concerned. We cannot blame it. I mean, they're really concerned about going out keeping themselves safe. Yes. And that's where we can implement technology like us. Where you know, there is pinpoint

instructions off. You know where to go from where, if I know where I want to go, it's just put it down. There's pinpoint instructions. If you want to customize your do any time. If you want toe mark location as a contained soon or the risk zone, you can, you know mark that on. Then you can take it up from there. So those kind of specific interactions you can give over a platform and imagine if you have a real time navigation system installed just in case. If you get to see that someone has trespassing a risk soon, where we mark instantly that notification can be passed on, action can be taken. Analytics module is so capable that we have real time heat maps being generated when business people moving around. If you think that in a certain space there's more people and they have to be moved out, action can be taken straight of it. So these kind of analytics on actionable data and I think that's

that's a significant step that you can put together for a pandemic or or a crisis situation like this. So I think that would really help in making people feel safe and comfortable. Yeah, you know, the Middle East and North Africa has an abundance of ongoing developments. Shopping centers, mixed use development, standalone retail shops, everything some many are 50 80% complete here in United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and everywhere. And I think this will be a very important factor for them to consider. Definitely, yes. Now for the most important question. Do you personally think that this is worth it? Definitely Most definitely. If I had my own shopping complex are hard. This would be one of the most important things that I wouldn't be installing because I first of all, if I own a retail space, there are two people that I mean to be considered about customers that will come in the retailer's. I

have to find value for both of them. Okay, when they're happy, I'm happy. So when I installed such a system like this first, uh, you know, point that I get in touch is my customers, the customers satisfied, They have a good experience. They go back and they come again, which makes me happy. The retailers, on the other hand, should be able to use this data you use make happy off these people who are coming, and they have to have relevant data to take action. You know, when the market, when we sell something to others, we have to make sure we're selling it to the right people are we're marketing it to the right people. How do you make sure that the kind of techniques and technologies that we have right now it's it's beating around the bush? You just don't know if I'm hitting the right cards. But with our kind of for technology, retailers can identify toe Ah, hyper local level. Okay, these are the customers that I need to focus right now. These are the actions that I have to take, and that way I can find quality customers quality

customers that I can make them happen, bring them back to the store, bring them back to them also in a retail space. This is what I would consider. And this is on going ahead for the future. This is something that everyone will have to consider, you know, to keep up with the the emerging trends. Incredible. Albert, thanks so much for doing this podcast with it. I definitely learned a lot, and I am positive our listeners have to thank you so much. Thank you. Stay tuned with us. Only hearing the voice in the van. Retail podcast for the Middle East Council of Shopping Centers and Retailers, the retail congressman 2020 Coming up this October 26 27 would be the best venue for you as a retail professional to reconnect, start building new relationships and get updated about what's happening here in the mean region. Visit w w dot M E C s c dot org for more information.